Sunday, 19 May 2013

I really didnt expect this to turn out half as good as it did and the flavour is amazing. Well worth the 3 days prep time!! Saying that now its done the starter will only take a couple of hours to feed then use again.

Tuesday, 14 May 2013

Ok well as you can see ive not been blogging for ages!! Two reasons 1. Things have been super busy for me lately and 2. I lost my way a bit and drew a blank on what to tell you all. Crap excuses I know but thats what im sticking to!! So here we are with starter doughs. A starter dough is basically growing your own strain of yeast using the wild yeast that is in the air all around us. Why? I hear you ask! Well my dry goods supplier called to tell me he had yeast issues. (after telling him to see a doctor not a chef I realised he might not be able to get any) so I investigated different ways of making the bread that kicked off the whole way we do things at the school, and found a recipe on google for a sour dough starter. Ive only started to grow it today so will be letting you know how it goes and if its actually worth the hassle!

Heres how to start.

2 cups flour
2 cups warm water
1 table spoon sugar

Mix them all together in a deep mixing bowl preferably glass but never steel. Cover losely with a clean cloth. The starter needs to breathe so cling film is no good. Stir 2 to 3 times a day for 3 days. This is only for the first batch of starter all you need to do then is reserve a cup full and add 2 cups water and 2 cups flour. Ill keep you posted and chuck in some pics too!!